Zotero MCP Server for Poke

An MCP server that gives Poke access to your Zotero research library. Built with FastMCP following the InteractionCo template.

Tools

The write tools need an API key with write access.

Related MCP server: zotero-mcp

Setup

1. Copy the example env file and fill it in:

cp .env.example .env

You need:

• Library ID — the number in your Zotero profile URL, or at zotero.org/settings/keys

• API key — create one at zotero.org/settings/keys/new with read (and optionally write) access

2. Install dependencies:

/opt/homebrew/bin/python3.11 -m venv .venv
.venv/bin/pip install -r requirements.txt

3. Run locally:

.venv/bin/python src/server.py

The server starts at http://localhost:8000/mcp.

Authentication

Every request must carry Authorization: Bearer <MCP_AUTH_TOKEN>; anything else gets a 401. The server refuses to start without MCP_AUTH_TOKEN unless MCP_ALLOW_NO_AUTH=true is set (local testing only). Generate a token with:

python3 -c "import secrets; print(secrets.token_urlsafe(32))"

Put it in .env locally and in the Render dashboard for the deployed server. Clients send it as a header, e.g. Claude Code:

claude mcp add --transport http zotero https://<your-render-url>/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer <token>"

Local Mode (full-text + annotations)

Set ZOTERO_LOCAL=true to connect directly to the Zotero app running on your machine. This enables:

• get_item_fulltext — extract text from PDFs

• get_item_annotations — read PDF highlights and comments

In Zotero: Edit → Preferences → Advanced → Allow other applications to access Zotero

Connecting Poke

Add this to your Poke MCP configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "zotero": {
      "url": "http://localhost:8000/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Or if deployed to Render, replace localhost:8000 with your Render URL.

Deploy to Render

Push this repo to GitHub, connect it to Render, and set the environment variables (ZOTERO_LIBRARY_ID, ZOTERO_API_KEY, MCP_AUTH_TOKEN) in the Render dashboard. The render.yaml handles everything else.